Cru Jones Society

 

Every Wednesday between now and the end of baseball season the Cru Jones Society brings you a new baseball movie examined for both overall entertainment value and treatment of our favorite game. To suggest a film, email us at staff [at] crujonessociety.com. Otherwise, pour yourself an $8 beer, crack some shells, and let’s play ball.

Date Released: March 29, 2002
Box Office Total: $75,600,072
Team Featured: Tampa Bay Devil Rays / Big Lake Owls

“You know what we get to do today, Brooks? We get to play baseball.” – Jimmy Morris.

We don’t often know what happens to prospects who flame out before they get to the big leagues. A million dollar arm and a successful major league career happen for so few, attempting to make sense of all those who don’t get there would be overwhelming. But what happens when one of those many gets a second chance? And what happens when that second chance comes when you’ve now got a wife, a family, and a job to think about?

Plot Synopsis

Jimmy Morris teaches high school chemistry in some tiny jerkwater town in Texas called Big Lake and coaches their unremarkable baseball team. He only has 10 players, all of whom seem resigned simply to graduate high school and go to work in the nearby oil field. Big Lake is a town built not on big dreams, but on the drab reality of making ends meet in a pedestrian, rural Texas flyover.

Before returning to the town his military father moved him to when he was a mere lad, Jimmy was a highly regarded pitching prospect whose shoulder crapped the bed during the interminable post-college, pre-Show process leaving Jimmy with a life of relentless shoulder pain, unfulfilled dreams and the crushing reality of working a thankless job for no money in a semi-hopeless town until he dies.

Watching his team lose yet another game and blandly treat the experience like yet another Texas dust storm, Jimmy tries to inject some hope into their otherwise colorless existence. After the team’s catcher reveals that when Jimmy really rears back and lets it loose during batting practice that he has to ice his hand, Jimmy and the team strike a deal. If the team wins the rest of its games and qualifies for the state tournament, Jimmy will go to a Major League tryout.

The team comes through in grand form sweeping the rest of the season on their way to the state tournament. After their final game, each guy says to Jimmy, “It’s your time, Coach” in one of the most well-constructed scenes in the movie.

 

Jimmy upholds his end of the bargain driving 2 hours to an open Tampa Bay Devil Rays tryout with his son and infant daughter. Wearing jeans and a Jiffy Lube hat, Jimmy takes the mound and fires laser shot after laser shot after laser shot. The tryout catcher even congratulates a dumbstruck Jimmy telling him, “You got ‘em talkin’. Good job, man.” A scout then approaches Jimmy and informs him he hit 98 on three separate radar guns for 12 straight pitches.

And despite Jimmy’s ridiculous age of 35, the Devil Rays’ scout tells him, “Jimmy, I’ve been a scout for a long time, and the number one rule is, arms slow down when they get old. Now, if I call the office and tell ‘em I got a guy here almost twice these kids’ age, I’m gonna get laughed at. But, if I don’t call in a 98-mile-an-hour fastball, I’m gonna get fired. I’m just saying there’s a chance you might get a call on this.”

And sure enough, Jimmy gets a call and an invitation to join Tampa Bay’s AA affiliate. His wife manages to put aside her odious wet blanket tendencies and sends Jimmy off to pursue his dream. He ships off to Orlando, pitches like a champ, and gets promoted to AAA Durham, where, sadly, he doesn’t run into Crash Davis.

The inherent drudgery of the bus leagues wears on Jimmy, and as the bills pile up at home, he contemplates quitting. The beauty of the game keeps him around, and with a few more solid outings, he finds himself called up during the September roster expansion. Better than simply realizing his dream, the Devil Rays are actually in Arlington playing the Rangers only a few hours from Big Lake.

Jimmy gets the bullpen call, enters the game in yet another losing effort for the woeful Devil Rays, and strikes out Royce Clayton (or Predator, as Senor Limon called him noticing his obnoxious dreadlocks) on three pitches. His players, his family, his semi-estranged father and the entire town of Big Lake watch their beloved chemistry teacher achieve his dream and pitch in a big league game.

Treatment of Baseball/Quality of Baseball Scenes:

We’ve spent the last three months discussing the fundamentals of baseball and all the romantic descriptions of the game created by an army of writers. After watching all of these films, it’s difficult not to let them all run together. But with that said, each movie has its own little unique element that sets it apart from the others.

In this film, it’s the dynamic between Jimmy and his young son. When Jimmy calls home to tell his wife that he’s been called up, she’s undeniably excited for him, but she’s got nothing on her son. Anyone that bonded with their father over baseball, as I did, can’t help but get a little choked up thinking about how amazing it would be to hear that your “daddy is a Major League pitcher.” This is a supremely well-executed scene, and my favorite one in the movie.

The rest of the baseball is decent, if unmemorable. We get little action on the field, and what we do get is filmed extremely tight giving you a limited sense of everyone’s ability. Other parts, like Jimmy going to his tryout wearing blue jeans seem exaggerated for the sake of the story and likely betray the actual events. Granted, I’m totally willing to forgive that because the story is extremely well-executed, but still.

Annoying Romantic B-Story/Stifling Spouse?

Rachel Griffiths plays Jimmy’s wife, and has several Adrian Balboa-style scenes where she dumps all over Jimmy’s dream. By and large, she’s written reasonably well, and toward the end of the movie she demonstrates real affection for Jimmy and gives the audience a great sense for the strength of their marriage. It’s a tribute to Griffiths that her performance, although irritatingly written at points in the movies first two acts, not only doesn’t detract from the overall film, but enhances it by its conclusion. Very nice job.

Final Thoughts

My mom brought this movie home when I was visiting one time during college. I fully expected to hate it because 1) it was rated G; and 2) my interests at the time included playing King’s Cup and watching Family Guy. But to my surprise, I enjoyed the hell out of it. This movie is flat-out wholesome, but without being saccharine. It treats its subject matter with an appropriate level of earnestness, and doesn’t get cutesy. It’s rated G because this is basically a nice movie about nice people. I thought it’d be pandering and unrealistic, but it’s not.

Sure, some liberties are taken with the story for dramatic effect, but none of those moments take you out of the story. This movie isn’t high art, but doesn’t aspire to be. It knows what it wants to do, does it quite effectively, and you’re left feeling just dandy afterward.

Ruling from the Scorer: A good, solid double.

edagger@crujonessociety.com